Bled & Breakfast (21 page)

“Yes,” Rose agreed. “I love him. I have since I was young. Many men used me, left me, but he never did. He taught me, he showed me how to use my powers as much as I could. He introduced me to Raina’s hidden grimoire many years ago and the knowledge of vampire blood magic. And here we are.”

Rose. It was Rose. The grandmother who’d seemed so helpful, so pleasant, so . . . harmless. The elderly witch who had a grimoire full of gardening and doggy spells. It didn’t seem possible, but the proof was right before me. She didn’t try to deny it. She seemed happy to finally have it all out in the open.

“Crap,” Owen murmured. “Didn’t see that coming.”

“I gardened with her for two months,” Todd said under his breath. “Never had a clue.”

Owen glanced at the other guy. “Who are you, again?”

Todd grimaced. “Hoppy.”

Owen blinked. “Hoppy the
toad
?”

“My beautiful Rose,” Malik said, his expression now peaceful. “It’s finally time for us to end my suffering. For me to be reborn.”

“In the body of a master vampire,” I said, stunned.

Of course. This was the plan all along. To resurrect Malik in Thierry’s body. It was all so much clearer now.

I’d figured if anyone, it was Heather—young, pretty, ready for true love, even if it might be with an evil spirit.

But Rose . . .

Eighty years old, but still willing to throw it all away for some incorporeal gigolo.

“I’ve tried the spell several times before,” Rose said with a nod, “but humans are too frail. And vampires . . . they have to be older—very old, in fact, to withstand the pressure of a foreign spirit taking over. Thierry is absolutely perfect for this.”

Thierry had drawn closer so he now stood next to me. His gaze moved from Casey’s body to me. His gray-eyed gaze didn’t overflow with optimism.

Current standings: him a ghost, me a fledgling—against a ghost who could drain a spirit and cause bodily harm to the living, and a witch of indeterminate power.

Not good odds.

Then again, Thierry had always been the glass-half-empty to my glass-half-full. Together, we made a full glass. We balanced each other. Light and dark, fledgling and master. We could figure this out. Because there was no damn way I was giving up his body without a fight.

Rose’s revelations did help clear a few things up in my mind.

“You’re the one who killed Owen.” I said it, not as a question, but as a statement. “But it wasn’t a death spell like we thought.”

“Owen was a failed experiment.” Rose shrugged. “Sorry, Owen.”

“You killed me?” Owen just stared at her bleakly. “But I thought you liked me.”

“I did. You were a beautiful man. You would have made an excellent host for Malik’s spirit. Alas, you weren’t old enough—not powerful enough in either body or spirit. When I tried to do the spirit transference spell the other day, you . . . exploded.”

Thierry crossed his arms. “Then you were afraid to try the spell again when it involved the man you believe you love.”

“I don’t
believe
I love him,” she snapped, her wrinkled gaze going cold and hard. “I
know
.”

“So your next experiment was to put Owen’s spirit into
my
body, hoping that I too would not explode.” Thierry’s lips were tight, which was the only betrayal of his anger toward the woman who had seemed so kind, so harmless, and even flirtatious with him.

He’d been fooled.

So had I.

Rose’s eyeballs hadn’t given her away. But maybe I hadn’t been looking closely enough.

“It worked perfectly,” Rose said.

Owen shook his head. “What happened to me is over. I’m dead. But—but you don’t want this body. Thierry’s thirst is too much for me to handle. You should do yourselves a favor and look elsewhere.”

In his own way, I knew he was trying to help us. I sent him a grateful look as I tried to come up with a way to distract Rose long enough for us all to get out of there and hope Raina would wake up sooner rather than later.

Rose didn’t seem concerned by Owen’s proclamation. “See, the difference is, Owen, that Malik is strong. You are weak. You give in to temptation, whether it’s blood or a hussy in a short skirt. Malik has all the patience and control that you lack.”

I found myself unable to hold back my steadily rising anger a moment longer. It erupted all at once.

“You bitch,” I snapped. “I’m going to kick your geriatric wicked witch ass all the way back to Oz.”

“Sarah.” Thierry’s voice was firm. “Calm yourself.”

“Calm myself?” I sputtered. “She tried to steal your body! Your life!”

“She failed.”

Rose laughed. “Failed? Wrong. I’m about to succeed beyond my wildest dreams. It’s time to finish this.”

“Grandma, please don’t do this,” Heather pleaded.

“Heather’s right, Rose,” Todd said. “Let’s talk about this.”

“Be quiet or I’ll turn you into a toad permanently,” she warned. “Malik, come stand next to me.”

As he did so, her eyes turned red and magic so powerful that it raised the fine hair on my arms charged the room. She smiled at my look of shock.

“Vampire blood, dear. I won’t be needing yours. Master vampire blood works so much better than fledgling. And I have all I could possibly need.”

I stared at her for a moment. “Thierry’s body . . . you bled Owen when he was unconscious.”

“That would explain how I feel,” Owen said with a nod. “Like a thousand leeches have been feasting on me all day.”

Rose’s smile held. “His wounds healed up so quickly that nobody would have guessed it. But there it is. I’m nearly as powerful as an alpha now. I can do the spell. And this time I’ll do it perfectly.”

“Raina! Wake up!” I crouched on the ground so I could shake her. She didn’t move. I checked her throat for a pulse, relieved to find one. She wasn’t dead, just really, really unconscious.

The air charged with magic.

This was it. We’d officially run out of time.

“Owen!” I yelled “Run! Just go!”

He met my gaze and nodded, then, taking whatever energy he still had in reserve, he bolted from his chair and out of the room.

I followed, the others right on my heels. Owen got almost as far as the front door before a blast of magic hit him in his back and sent him sailing into the wall next to the mirror, where he left a big dent.

Rose shoved me out of the way, her strength surprising even me.

I’d wanted Owen to get out of this house and run as far and as fast as he could. Funny how yesterday I’d done everything I could to stop him from doing just that.

Malik stood back, his arms crossed, and watched the show as if fascinated by this culmination of years of planning. He seemed to have every confidence in Rose’s abilities. Every confidence that he would walk out of here tonight in a strong, tall, handsome—if slightly ancient and eternally bloodthirsty—vampiric form.

Not if I had anything to say about it.

Thierry’s spirit stalked the edges of the room, assessing the situation before him like a caged lion. He had become very translucent now. I wanted to warn him to stay back, to not get too close to Malik. That bastard was dangerous on too many levels to count.

Heather stood on the other side of the room, staring at her grandmother as if she were looking at a stranger. Todd didn’t leave her side, still determined to protect her, even though I knew a shape-shifter—even one wearing a snazzy kilt—had no chance against a powerful witch.

“Yes, this will be the perfect vessel,” Rose said to Owen, her gaze taking him in from head to foot. “A master vampire, one with hundreds of years of life to make him strong, unbreakable, unstoppable. Immortal. Jonathan Malik will live again, and I will be by his side forever.”

“You think so, huh?” I said, disgusted by every word that came out of the old biddy’s mouth. “No offense, but do you really think a gorgeous vampire will want much to do with an eighty-year-old grandma?”

Her gaze shot toward me. The next moment I was flying through the air. I hit the coffee table hard, breaking it on contact. The wooden shards stabbed into my skin.

I yanked the splinters out, flinching from the pain, and got back to my feet. I wasn’t finished with her.

Across the room, Thierry flickered out and I thought for a horrible moment that he was gone. But a second later he flickered back into view right in front of me.

I gulped hard. “New trick?”

He searched my face. “You need to get Heather and Todd to safety. You can’t stop her. All you’ll do is get yourself killed if you stay here.”

“I already got killed today. Stake through the heart, courtesy of Miranda Collins.”

“What?” His gaze raked over my bloody shirt, widening, then snapped back up to my eyes.

“Raina healed me in the nick of time. But all I could think about in those moments was the fact that I’d miss you so much.”

His brows drew together. “Sarah . . .”

“I got a second chance and I’m not wasting it. No matter what, Thierry, we’re together in this. Either we fix this or we can both be spirits together. Got it?”

He stared at me a moment longer, as if ready to argue, before his gaze hardened. “Got it.”

“Good.” I turned to see Rose, who had a whirlwind of magic going on now, sparkling circles of power spinning around her like supernatural hula hoops. Her gardening clothes and white hair blew back from her face from a mystically summoned wind.

Malik watched her, naked anticipation and greed on his handsome face—but I saw no love or devotion there. She was only another minion to him, one he’d been able to fool with his lies and promises and empty charm.

“He doesn’t love you!” I yelled at Rose. “Stop this! Your granddaughter loves you! You’re destroying everything right now!”

She made a flicking motion toward me, and I flew backward again, this time slamming hard into the wall by the bay window. A crack formed on the glass, but it didn’t shatter. It knocked the wind out of me for a moment and I gasped for breath.

Rose was beyond reason—beyond sanity. Her world had narrowed to this spell and the ghost she believed loved her.

“It’s time to remove the old . . .” Rose twisted her hand. Owen’s spirit was sent sailing out of Thierry’s body as if she’d just plucked a Kleenex from a box. “And prepare for the new.”

Owen scrambled to his feet, looking down at himself with shock. Then he sent a bleak look in my direction. Now spiritless, Thierry’s body crumpled to the floor near the bottom of the stairs.

Heather still stood at the opening to the séance room, staring at her grandmother with horror etched on her face.

Okay, my theory about Heather being evil and deceptive and secretly power hungry?

I was wrong. Oops.

The sorcery-wielding granny appeared to be powering up again, since her sparkly hoops were spinning faster and faster. The wind blew through the entire house now, knocking everything in its path to the floor.

“What did she do with your blood?” I asked Thierry. “Is that what she’s channeling right now?”

He kept his focus on the witch. “Likely she consumed it while reciting a spell.”

My stomach clenched. “Like a magical elixir.”

“Exactly. The power is already inside of her, like mercury in a thermometer. It’s rising up and when it gets to maximum . . .” His jaw clenched. “I can’t stop this, Sarah. But there is someone who can.”

Raina told me only an alpha witch could do that time travel spell . . .

“Heather!” I yelled. “You have to stop her!”

She stared at me with confusion. “How?”

“You’re an alpha witch!”

Her mouth dropped open and she shook her head. “What are you talking about? Alpha witch? I—I’m barely a witch at all!”

Todd stood solidly at Heather’s side, surveying the magic-infused room with shock.

I frantically waved at him. “Todd! Say something to her! She doesn’t believe in herself.”

He nodded, then pulled her around to face him. She didn’t resist, her breath catching as she met his gaze. “Heather, I think you’re amazing.”

She looked to be on the verge of tears. “No, I’m not. And—why would I believe you? I don’t trust anything you say.”

“I should have told you the truth long ago. I know that. I’m sorry. But that doesn’t mean that you’re not amazing. And that I’m madly, passionately in love with you.”

“This is adorable, really,” I said, sending a furtive look toward Thierry’s now vacant and vulnerable body, “but Salem’s version of
The Bachelorette
is not going to help right now. Let’s focus on the magic, on the confidence. Pretty please?”

“You love me?” Heather stared at Todd with shock. “Are you serious?”

He just nodded. “I’ve never been more serious. You have so much magic inside of you. But something’s held it back all this time. I’ve always believed in you, Heather. It’s time for you to believe in yourself.”

Every second that passed was a second lost. Malik stood tall, with an arrogant look on his face. This was his victory day. The first time I saw him in the café he’d told me “soon.” This was what he’d meant.

He believed he would soon live again. And soon was now.

Raina didn’t burst into the room to wave her magic wand. There was just a white-haired witch who was ready to destroy everything in the name of love, and allow a man who’d killed and tortured women just like her back into the world.

All we had in our corner was a shifter, a vampire, a fading spirit, and an alpha witch who didn’t believe in herself and never had.

We were going to lose.

“I
want to help!” Heather cried, twisting her necklace as she watched her grandmother as if looking at a complete stranger, “but I don’t know how! I can’t do magic without a grimoire.”

Heather’s mother had had powerful magic inside her. And even though she’d made us believe that her magic had faded through the years, Rose was also an accomplished witch—far beyond simple gardening and doggy spells.

But Heather had always struggled. She didn’t have any more magic than what she’d shown us. She’d given me everything she had—and then some. When she tapped too deeply into the magic, her nose bled.

But why?

My gaze moved to her necklace, the one her grandmother had given her after her mother’s death.

“Do you ever take that necklace off?” I asked.

She looked down at the piece of jewelry she twisted between her fingers. “Never. Why?”

“Of course, Sarah,” Thierry murmured, as if following my line of thinking. “It has to be.”

My gaze met Thierry’s and held. “Do you think I’m right?”

“Only one way to find out.”

I nodded. Then I raced across the room, grabbed hold of Heather’s necklace, and ripped it off her neck, breaking the chain.

When the chain broke, the blast of magic sent me flying backward across the room, where I landed again on the broken coffee table.

“Oh, come on.” I winced as I pulled a small but painful splinter out of my shoulder. “
So
not fair.”

Then, before my eyes, the necklace dangling from my grip turned from gold to black.

Heather gasped. “What is going on?”

I looked up at her grimly. “This necklace worked to dampen your magic, Heather. Rose didn’t want you to know you were an alpha.”

The evil granny in question ignored us, intent on her task. The hoops of magic circled her arms now, close to her skin. Her hands glowed. She looked as if she were summoning Thor himself to do her thunder-god bidding.

She’d bled Thierry’s body a lot for that much blood magic.

The thought only made me angrier.

Heather stood there, her arms out to either side of her, her eyes wide and full of awe. “Sarah, I can feel it inside of me. Why would she keep this from me all this time?”

“Because she didn’t want you to be able to stop this,” Todd replied before I could. “But you can. Can’t you see? You can!”

Heather’s eyes were wide. “The magic inside me is like an ocean—so big and wide and . . . Wow. I never knew.”

“Suggestion? Jump in that ocean and start swimming!” I urged. “Swim, Heather, swim!”

The magic in the room was so thick I could barely catch my breath.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Thierry’s spiritless body jolt—as if a paramedic had taken electric paddles to it.

Malik’s form flickered. “Finish it, Rose, my love, and we can be together always.”

I couldn’t wait for Heather to take action—not even knowing if she
could
take action. I began moving toward Rose. Before I got there, Malik stepped in front of me.

“Not so fast, vampire.” He backhanded me again, but I recovered faster this time. I swiped my fist toward him but caught only cold air.

Thierry moved toward Malik, his gaze predatory.

“Don’t get closer to him!” I yelled. “Be careful!”

“
You
telling me to be careful.” Thierry shook his head, and despite everything, a smile curled the side of his mouth. “How ironic.”

“He’s dangerous!”

“So am I.” Thierry launched himself at the witch hunter, and they both went tumbling across the room.

“I’ll destroy you!” Malik snarled.

“You can try,” Thierry snapped back, “but my will to live is stronger now than it’s been in centuries. You’ll fail.”

“Let’s put that to the test, shall we?” Malik clutched Thierry’s throat, holding him at arm’s length. His eyes turned black and he began to inhale deeply. Thierry’s form flickered, his face contorting with pain.

“Thierry!” I screamed.

Owen’s spirit launched himself across the room and tackled both of them. He plowed his fist into Malik’s face and pulled him away from Thierry.

“Thierry and I have never been best buds,” he snarled, “but I’m on his side in this. Your girlfriend killed me for you, you witch-hunting bastard.”

“You were only one of many.” Malik easily spun away from him, stepping out of both of their reaches.

I allowed myself a brief moment of relief. Owen had saved Thierry before the rest of his energy had been completely devoured. But it had been close, too close.

Despite our difficulties, Owen had just earned a million brownie points in my book.

The inn was charged with magic—every molecule filled with static energy. My hair even began to stand on end.

I spun on my heels. “Heather!”

“I don’t know!” Heather yelled over the roar of the swirling wind. “I’m not sure I can stop her. Grandma, please. Don’t do this. I love you!”

Rose turned her scary red eyes toward her granddaughter, her gaze serene despite everything. “And I love Malik. There’s never been anyone else for me. I would kill for him; I would die for him. So don’t get in my way or I’ll destroy you, too.”

Tears streamed down Heather’s cheeks. She raised a hand toward her grandma, and rings of sparkling magic began to circle her as well. No nosebleed this time, just pure magic. Her eyes turned red. “I won’t let you hurt anyone else.”

“And I won’t let you stop me.” Rose thrust her arm out and sent a lightning-like charge of magic toward Heather.

“No!” Todd leapt in front of the young witch to block her, taking the force of the blast full on. He crumpled to the ground in a heap.

“Todd, no!” Heather cried. She fell to his side. He didn’t move, but his chest showed he was still breathing.

“Damn shifters,” Rose snarled. “That wouldn’t have been enough to kill him. Let me try again.”

Heather turned her red eyes toward her grandmother. They weren’t filled with tears; they were filled with outrage.

“Stay back,” Rose warned. “The next blast will kill both you and your boyfriend. You might have magic, little girl, but you have no control. I have a lifetime of it. I gave myself over to black magic when your mother died. I haven’t looked back.”

Black magic must have been what had turned her this way—this deceptive, selfish witch who couldn’t see beyond her blinders. Who couldn’t see beyond Malik’s wishes.

For the briefest second, I felt desperately sorry for her.

“Well, this is quite a sight, isn’t it?” The voice made me whip my head toward the séance room with surprise. Raina, hunched over, emerged from the adjoining room, holding on to the walls as she went as if she hadn’t gotten her strength fully back.

Weak or not, the witch who’d kidnapped me and tied me up in her dungeon earlier today was a sight for sore eyes.

“Thought you’d never wake up,” I said tightly. “But I’m glad you did.”

“I can help,” she muttered.

“You sure about that?”

“I can try.”

“No, stay back,” Heather hissed. “She’s my grandmother. This is my fight now.”

“Sarah,” Thierry hissed from nearby. I turned to see him, alarmed by how pale and translucent he was. “Stay back.”

“Thierry, what are you—”

“Don’t worry about me.”

Heather took a step toward her grandmother.

“I don’t want to kill you,” Rose said, a muscle in her cheek twitching. “Truly, I don’t. But I can’t let you stop this. I can make you forget. I can make you forget all of this, including your own magic. It’s for the best.”

The forgetting spell—the same one Raina used on a lesser level for the vampires she bled to maintain her immortality. Miranda didn’t have that level of power, which was why she’d had to kill the vampires she bled. But Rose was as powerful as an alpha right now, with all that master vampire blood swirling around inside her—her thermometer heated up to maximum. She could do it.

In fact, she could make
all
of us forget if she wanted to.

“You won’t forget I’m your grandmother, dear, but you’ll forget everything else. And no one will ever keep me from Malik.
No one
.”

Raina groaned. “She’s another witch after you, Malik? This is getting absolutely ridiculous.”

I noticed that the two had locked gazes, the witch hunter ghost’s attention drawn away from the old woman from the moment Raina entered the room.

He looked at her the way he had at the edge of the forest more than three hundred years ago. As if she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

“It could have been different, Raina,” he said, his voice hoarse now. “I wanted it to be. Do it, Rose. Raina’s power has been drained. She can’t stop you right now. Take away your granddaughter’s memories if you wish to save her life, and then we’ll deal with the others.”

“Yes, my love.”

“Give this up, Malik,” Raina warned. “I won’t ask again.”

His gaze hardened. “Don’t you know me by now? I never give up.”

Then the floor began to tremble and shake as if there were an earthquake rolling through town.

“Are you doing this?” I asked Raina.

She shook her head, her expression growing worried. “No.”

Rose’s sparkly magic solidified before her in the shape of an arrow.

Heather stood there, her wild red hair the same color as her eyes. Despite everything, she looked calm. Focused. “I can’t believe you kept this magic from me my whole life. I can’t forgive you for that.”

“What’s done is done.” Rose sent the arrow hurtling toward Heather.

Just as the arrow would have hit Heather, the air all around her rippled. The arrow bounced off this shielding and flew backward toward Rose, where it hit her squarely in her chest and disappeared. Gold light emanated from her chest, crawling up along the line of her throat, over her jaw, and up her cheeks until her entire head glowed with sparkling golden light.

She gasped, her eyes rolled back into her head, and she slumped down to the floor only feet from where Todd also lay unconscious.

All of this happened in seconds.

Heather’s eyes, still red and scary, suddenly lost their serenity. “Oh, my God. Is she dead? Did I kill her?”

Raina moved toward the witch on the ground, crouching down to check the pulse at the old woman’s throat. “She’s still alive.”

“I’m glad you stopped her. She was out of control.” Malik addressed Heather. “Your power is incredible, much greater than anything I’ve ever seen before.”

Heather regarded him with a withering look. “Back off, jerk. This is all your fault.”

“Oh, Malik,” Raina whispered. She shook her head. “How far you’ve fallen.”

He turned to face her, and their eyes locked. “Without you I’m nothing, my love.”

Her harsh expression wavered and I saw that wistfulness in her eyes.

Thierry whispered to me, loud enough for only me to hear. “I don’t trust her. If she chooses to help him, they’ll need more vampire blood. You’re the only one in town now. My body”—he glanced over at it—“it’s too weak from the previous bleedings. My blood will also be weak right now. Raina would need it to be as strong as possible in order for Malik to survive the transference. They’ll kill you.”

I shook my head, determined to stay. “He can’t have your body.”

“Sarah, look at her. Despite everything, she still loves him. All this time, it’s never changed. Can’t you see?”

I gazed into his gray eyes. “I do see. I see more than you think I do. Raina still loves him, I agree. But she’s changed over the years. He hasn’t. I thought he had, but he hasn’t. He’s nothing like you.”

He searched my face. “I don’t understand.”

“Change is everything. People are capable of changing, no matter who they are and what they might have done in the past. But they have to want to change. They have to want to be better.”

I glanced toward Heather, now crouched beside Todd again. She held his hand in hers and sent a worried look in my direction. Owen stood by the staircase, eyeing all of us with distrust and uncertainty. Rose lay unconscious next to the couch.

And Raina and Malik faced each other as if the rest of us didn’t exist.

“It was real between us,” she said, her voice quiet. “I know it was.”

“It was. The others . . .” He frowned. “You wouldn’t help me. I thought you would change your mind eventually, but you never did. I was forced to look elsewhere.”

“You seduced them.”

“As much as I could with words and promises.”

“Women enjoy both.”

“So did you. Once. And you once loved me.”

Her eyes glistened. “I still do.”

Malik took a step closer to her. His form shimmered in the semidarkness of the room. “Push away your uncertainty, your guilt over past misdeeds. Help me live again right here, right now. We can begin a new life together, just the two of us. In my heart it was always you, nobody else. You know that, don’t you?”

“I know,” she whispered.

“I love you, Raina.”

“And I love you.” She took a step back from him. “I release the spell I put on you once, so very long ago. I release it and I release you from the bonds that hold your spirit here in Salem.”

I watched her, ignoring the sick, sinking feeling I had.

“Sarah . . . ,” Thierry growled, “go now.”

I shook my head. “Just wait.”

Malik jolted forward as if an unseen hand had pushed him. “Excellent, Raina. I’m pleased Casey did not drain you of all your magic. Do the transference spell quickly. My ties to the mortal world are now tenuous at best.”

“I release you,” she said again, her eyes turning red and her hands stretching out to her sides, palms up. Fresh, pure magic charged the room. “I release you, Jonathan Malik, the man I have loved for more than three centuries. I have learned much in this time, but you have not. You are evil and you continue to hurt those who are innocent. You’ve never stopped.” Her expression remained fierce. “I release you to the judgment that has awaited you all these years.”

“Raina!” Malik roared, the reality of what was happening now hitting him. “Don’t do this!”

“It’s done.” She dropped her hands back to her sides. A tear slipped down her cheek. “I’m sorry. Good-bye, my love.”